HBO is reportedly negotiating for Apple to be a launch partner when the network’s new streaming service launches next month. The International Business Times reports that Apple has been "aggressive in courting HBO in a bid to add the service to Apple TV".

HBO reportedly plans a launch by mid-April - just in time for the latest season of hit show Game of Thrones:

HBO is in talks with Apple to make Apple TV one of the launch partners for its highly anticipated streaming service when it debuts next month. HBO and streaming partner Major League Baseball Advanced Media are working to have the standalone service, called “HBO Now,” ready to launch in April in conjunction with the premiere of the fifth season of “Game of Thrones,” according to sources familiar with their plans.

According to IBT's sources, HBO Now is going to cost $15 a month. That's more than what some cable companies change for the premium channel (Comcast, for example, charges $10 a month on top of your basic cable fee) which means that HBO is probably charging consumers about three times the fee they get (per head) from cable companies.

That's not so good news for consumers but it probably represents a compromise between HNO and its biggest customers (one of which, Time-Warner, also owns HBO).

HBO has been working to launch HBO Now since last October. As far as I can recall, this is the first leak about potential partners since that October announcement.

Long derided for not offering an online-only option, HBO had previously limited online streaming to users who paid through their cable company. The HBO Go service worked less than perfectly, which could explain the delay in launching HBO Now; they wanted to get it working correctly and have a platform robust enough that it doesn't immediately fail under the load.

HBO has yet to announce the official launch date, pricing, or device support for the service.

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Nate Hoffelder is the founder and editor of The Digital Reader:"I've been into reading ebooks since forever, but I only got my first ereader in July 2007. Everything quickly spiraled out of control from there. Before I started this blog in January 2010 I covered ebooks, ebook readers, and digital publishing for about 2 years as a part of MobileRead Forums. It's a great community, and being a member is a joy. But I thought I could make something out of how I covered the news for MobileRead, so I started this blog."

pretty darn sure we’ll be watching in the order and at the time (initially) they are broadcast over cable/satellite

that $15 a month might be more of a value depending on exactly what will be available for streaming – all HBO series/programs since the beginning of time or much more truncated – i know HBO Go was a bust for me since it was much more limited than was advertised

The current HBO GO does let you watch past content so it is unlikely that the new service will be strictly live streaming. More likely it’ll be a combination of live and archival streaming or possibly day-after streaming a la Hulu or CBS. It might even be just HBO GO but without the requirement for a cable-based subscription.